Motor vehicles often include an inflatable restraint apparatus having an airbag device with a deployable airbag positioned in or behind an interior vehicle panel, such as an instrument panel, a door panel, a seat, or the like. Many interior panels include an integrated airbag door formed into the interior panel that is designed to break free upon deployment of the airbag. Often an area of the interior panel surrounding the integrated airbag door is scored or pre-weakened to form a tear seam that facilitates a clean airbag deployment, e.g., airbag deployment with minimal or no fragmentation of the interior panel.
To meet high customer expectations for quality and aesthetics, many interior panels are wrapped or otherwise decorated with a cover skin, such as leather, imitation leather, a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) skin, or the like, to improve the appearance and feel of the motor vehicle interior. Many cover skin materials, however, are relatively flexible and/or otherwise sensitive such that scoring or pre-weakening even just the back side (non-visible side) of the cover skin typically results in at least a portion of the tear seam being visibly apparent to the occupant(s) of the motor vehicle. This condition is commonly referred to as tear seam or score line “readthrough,” which is aesthetically undesirable.
In one example disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,497,463, issued to Kaulbersch et al., a lining of an interior vehicle panel for a cover of an airbag is provided. The lining material contains dash-like punctures in a region of its inner side adapted to face a periphery of a hinged airbag cover. The dash-like punctures form a weakening geometry or tear seam to facilitate a clean airbag deployment. The dash-like punctures are formed completely through the lining material from the inner side to the outer or visible side of the lining. As such, the tear seam is unfortunately fully visible to the occupants of the motor vehicle.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide interior panels for motor vehicles including a cover skin that has a tear seam that tears or otherwise ruptures, for example, to facilitate a clean airbag deployment, and that is substantially or completely invisible to an occupant(s) of the motor vehicle, and methods for making such interior panels. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.